Moin Khan named new Pakistan coach and Sohail removed

Amid a slew of changes to Pakistan cricket, Moin Khan has been named the new head coach of the national side. The decision was taken at an eight-member management committee meeting, a day after PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf was dismissed and the board of governors dissolved.

Moin will replace Dav Whatmore, whose contract expires this month. He had been appointed team manager before the tour to Zimbabwe in August 2013 but had recently been replaced by Zakir Khan.

In other major changes, Aamer Sohail’s appointment as chief selector last week was denounced, and former Pakistan cricketer Azhar Khan was put in charge of an interim selection committee.

The committee, headed by newly reappointed PCB chairman Najam Sethi, also endorsed Mohammad Akram’s two-year contract as Pakistan’s bowling coach. A new fielding coach was also appointed, with Shoaib Mohammad put in charge for the Asia Cup and World Twenty20.

When Ashraf was in charge of the PCB, he had appointed Sohail as director game and development national cricket academy and given him an additional charge of chief selector. But the Sethi-led PCB denounced a majority of the decisions taken by Ashraf since Ashraf came to power last month. “The management committee decided in principle that any decision which lacks transparency or due process shall not be ratified,” said Sethi while briefing the press in Lahore after a five-hour meeting.

“(Since) PCB service rules were not followed in the decision to appoint him [Sohail] … further, the record reflects that Aamer Sohail was never issued a letter of appointment for any post in PCB, therefore he held no post in PCB.

“The appointments of Mr. Basit Ali (coach of regional cricket academies in Karachi) and Mr. Mohammad Ilyas (chief selector of junior teams and the women’s national team) were not in accordance with PCB Services Rules. Their appointments are declared as void abinitio, null and void.